Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 84: The Close Relationship between the Military and the People

Vespa and the Senate also had their own considerations on the current situation, and this was the best solution in their minds.

After all, the German Legion had committed the serious crime of treason, and the people of Rome were quite unhappy with them, so it was impossible not to punish them. However, it was a time of trouble, and it was unwise to severely punish a main force, so they could only be given a lighter sentence.

Most of the garrisoned legions in various places recruited soldiers directly from the local area, supplemented by some foreign reinforcements. The Germanic Legion was no exception. Many of them were mixed-race Gauls or Franks, and many of them even had local Gaul nobles or nobles of the Frankish Kingdom in their families. The connection between the two sides was very close.

The next step is certain. Rome will go to war with the local Gallic rebels, and if necessary, have a brief battle with the Franks.

The Senate and Vespa were worried about letting these people guard the national border at this tense moment, so they simply sent these people away and replaced them with others.

First of all, the replacements must not be weak in strength, so there are actually two options - they cannot let new recruits guard the most important line of defense, so the replacements must be either the Danube Legion or the Eastern Legion.

The Eastern Legion was too far away, and the huge climate difference between the two places would affect the combat, so the Danube Legion was more suitable. Not to mention that the Danube Legion killed more than 10,000 soldiers of the old Germanic Legion in one go during the civil war, and many of the local people's families were among them. It can be expected that the relationship between the army and the people would not be very harmonious, which is exactly what Rome wants to see.

Now is not the time to build close ties between the military and the people. What is important is to ensure that the new Germanic Legion stands firm and does not betray the army, and that it can withstand the pressure and deal with the pincer attack from the Franks and Gauls.

It was not a big problem to let the new recruits guard the Danube defense line. There were frequent wars but the war pressure was small. Those who harassed the border were all out-and-out barbarians. Even if they lost the battle, they would just let the barbarians come and plunder. They did not have the ability to occupy a certain place. Besides, it was actually very difficult for the Romans to lose.

Actually, at the very beginning of the meeting, Vespa wanted the Eastern Legion to expand its military as well. There had been no major wars in the East in recent decades. After decades of military contraction, the Eastern Legion was now strong enough for self-preservation but not for advancement. Moreover, there had been disturbing news from Greece and Asia Minor recently. Expanding the military was a safe bet. The Eastern provinces were not short of money, and it would not even require much tax to maintain five more legions. All it would take was a careful check of the accounts, a slight increase in tariffs, and an inventory of the household registration.

But this proposal was eventually rejected by the Senate. The reason they gave was that the garrisons in the Greek provinces and the Danube Legion were sufficient to ensure stability and security in Greece and Asia Minor, so there was no need to increase the army in the eastern provinces.

In fact, this was because they were afraid of Vespa's strength and wanted to balance the power between the two sides. The Eastern Legion was Vespa's die-hard supporter. The Governors of Egypt and Syria both supported Vespa from the beginning. The Governor of Egypt had food and money, and the Governor of Syria had elite soldiers. After the Battle of Parphi, the Herod royal family and the small governors of several surrounding areas also became supporters of Vespa and the Flavian royal family.

At least in the next one or two generations, the Eastern provinces will continue to support the Flavian royal family. In this case, it would be a bit unfavorable to continue to increase the military strength of the Eastern Legion. The key to politics is to maintain balance, and breaking the existing balance is a result that the Senate members do not want to see.

Knowing that the Senate was firmly opposed, Vespa did not insist. Anyway, the main goal now was to maintain the stability and unity of the Roman Empire, not to compete for power with the Senate. All his political goals had been met. He would die without regrets if he became emperor, and he did not need to take all the power into his own hands. Therefore, he was always generous in matters that did not involve core issues. The Senate and the royal family had worked hard to reach an agreement in the conference hall. To sum up, the content was roughly this. Both parties were basically satisfied. After all, their goals were the same at this stage, and the differences were only on some details. This was easy to say. The leaders of both parties, Nerva and Vespa, were very happy to make concessions.

The three chatted in the courtyard for a while, and then the topic naturally turned to the assassins.

Orville asked Tia first. He should be the one who cares the most about this matter because he was almost hacked to death: "Are the test results of those attackers out?"

"I went to take a look. They looked very obviously Gauls, and their weapons and equipment were Gallic swords and axes. From their body shapes, we can roughly infer their eating habits. Like the Romans, they eat more grains than dairy products and meat. It should be certain that they are Gauls who grew up in Gaul, but we can't completely rule out the suspicion of Franks."

Vespa smiled and dispelled Tia's doubts: "Don't doubt whether it was done by the Franks. They don't do things this way. And this attack will not benefit them at all. There were 20 to 30 gifted people in the Senate at that time. They knew very well that they would not gain any advantage in a fight.

And even if they were lucky enough to cause a little damage, what would be the use? This would only further increase Rome's vigilance and anger. The current Frankish king is a smart and perceptive barbarian. He will understand this. It is better not to attract attention. "

Orville couldn't help but look at Vespa at this time, but Vespa was also staring at Orville. When he saw Orville looking at him, he simply gave him an expression that said "you know", and everything was said without words.

Orville had already guessed the general situation, and now that Vespa had confirmed it, there was no need for him to dig deeper.

According to his guess, Vespa turned a blind eye to some of the Gauls' actions, acquiesced to their attack on Rome, and even slightly fueled the flames behind the scenes. This strategy did not suit Orville's mind, but he could not control how Vespa acted. Judging from the results, this attack was undoubtedly beneficial and harmless, awakening the elders to a further sense of crisis about Gaul.

It's just that he was more or less dissatisfied, that's for sure. Anyone would be dissatisfied if they were chased and hacked for hundreds of meters.

It was really his bad luck. He just accompanied Domitia to watch a play and insisted on going out to wander around. He just happened to run into those people who were planning an attack. Of course, Orville would not vent his negative emotions on Vespa and complain to him. He could only say that he was really unlucky. He had experienced similar life-and-death moments many times during the war before, and it was not that he could not let it go, otherwise he would have had a mental breakdown long ago.

(End of this chapter)